Typewriter accessory



Oct. 13, 1942,

w. 5. RICH TYPEWRI-TER ACCESSORY Filed July 15, 1939 WOODWARD BALDWINRICH Patented Oct. 13, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2291x590TYPEWEITER ACCESSORY Woodward Baldwin Rich, Baltimore, Md. ApplicationJuly 15, 1939, Serial 110,284,772

2 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to typewriters and morespecifically to an accessory for a typewriter that will indicate to theoperator the'number of lines to be written, or the number of linesremaining on the page, and which will signal the operator whentherequisite number of lines has been written.

An important object of my invention is to provide an indicating devicesynchronized with the platen roll of a typewriter so, as to indicate theposition on the page.

A further object of my invention is to, pro vide an accessory for atypewriter that can be readily attached to any make of typewriterwithout altering materially the structural details of the typewriter.

Another object of my an accessory for a typewriter that can be easilyand readily associated with the platen roll to designate the number oflines to be written, or the number of lines remaining on the page.

Yet another object of my invention is to provide an accessory for atypewriter that will indicate clearly to the operator the number oflines to be written or the number of lines remaining on the page to bewritten, which accessory consists of relatively few essential workingparts, and which can be easily and cheaply manufactured. l

And yet another object of 'my invention is to provide a typewriteraccessory of the type hereinabove described which will prevent foreignmatter, such as, for instance, dirt .or dust, from entering the workingparts, and thereby damaging such parts.

With the above and other important objects in view whichwill'hereinafter become more fully apparent, my invention consists inthe parts and combinations to be later more fully. described andclaimed, it being distinctly understood however that the structuraldetails set forth herein are merely for the purpose of illustration.

In the drawing in which like numerals designate the same or similarparts:

Figure l isafragmental front elevational view illustrating my noveltypewriter accessory in association with the platen roll of atypewriter.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken through the accessorylooking in of the turning knob.

Figure 3 is a view taken along the line 3-4 of Figure 2 looking in thedirection of the'arrows.

Figure 4 is a; sectional view similar to Figure 3 showing the workingparts in inoperative position.

the direction invention is to provide Figure 5 is a fragmental sectionalview showing the details of the idler pinion gears.

Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to Figure 1, there isillustrateda platen roll I journaled in' a portion of the carriage of atypewriter 2. My novel attachment device 3 and a turning knob 4 for theplaten roll I are'mounted on the shaft 5 of the platen roll. The device3 includes. a backing plate 6 having a concentric integral hub l whichforms a bearing for the platen shaft 5 and provides means for attachingthe backing plate to the carriage 2. An additional'attaching means suchas a bolt 8 provided with a spacer bushing 9 is provided to preventrotation of the plate 5.

-In Figures 3 and 4 it will be noted that a drum ll of such diameter asto rotate around the plate 5 plate i2 is positioned at the open end ofthe drum,- and amxed thereto in any desirable manner. Manifestly, thebacking plate 6, the drum II, and the cover. plate l2 form the housingof my accessory device 3. I

As clearly shown in Figure 4, the cover plate [2 is formed with 'aconcentric integral hub l3 which affords an outer bearing for the platenshaft 5.

Referring agai to Figure 1, it is readily apparent. that the outer faceof the drum H is provided with indicia which in this particular caseconsist of graduations N. that indicate the number of lines to bewritten or the number of lines remaining to be written on a given page.Aflixed to the Outer face of the backing plate 6 is a pointer l5, thepurpose of which is believed readily apparent.

- by impart rotary 55 around the platen spaced relation to theIntegrally formed on the backing plate 6 is a ring gear Hi (see Figures3 and 4) which meshes withan idler pinion l1 rotatably mounted on a pinl8. As shown in Figure 5, the pin I8 is conveniently attached to thecover plate l2. The hub of the pinion is flanged as designated at l9,and a washer 20 in flanged member I9 is provided. .Oneend of a spiralspring 2| is attached by an anchor pin 22 between the flange l9 and thewasher 20, and the opposite end is attached to the hub l3 as shown at23.

A driving pinion 24 rigidly attached to the shaft 5 is adapted to meshin operative position (see Figure 3) with the idler pinion l1 andtheremovement of the platen shaft A coil sprin 25 is positioned haft 5between the huh I! and itothedmmli'.

and which is also adapted to slide relative to the plate 5 is provided,and a cover inner face of the I drumll the pinion 24 to force normallythe pinion I I out of mesh with the pinion 24 or hold thesegears ininoperative position.

Pivotally mounted on the inner face of the plate 6 is a detent 26 whichis adapted to travel H in a groove 21 formed in the inner periphery of'A leaf spring 28 is attached at one; -1 end to the ring gear I6, and thefree end conthe drum.

tacts the detent 26-to maintain the .working face of the detent in thegroove 21.

A cam surface 29 is located in the groove 21 as shown in Figure 2, andis so formed that the rise of the cam is virtually flush with the innerangles as indicated at 35. The portion 35 is,

engaged in a lateral groove 36 formed ina stop member 31. The stopmember 31 is integrally formed on the inner face of the drum II andcomprises an inclined rise 38 that extends from the inner face of thedrum II to the lateral groove 38. The opposite side of the groove 38 Itis believed to be readily apparent from the above description that Ihave provided an accessory for a typewriter which can be easily andinexpensively manufactured and which can be used in conjunction with alltypes of typewriters on the market without necessitating any material.alteration' of the typewriter. In addition, the

"device will clearly and accurately indicate the number of lines to bewritten, or the number of lines remaining on the page to be written.Furthermore, with my device. as soon as the predetermined number oflines'have been written, the device will automatically return to itsoriginal position. It consists of few principal work ing parts and inthe event of damage, the device can be repaired quickly and with littleor no trouble.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself tothe precise details of construction herein set 'iorth by way ofillustration, as it is apparent extends radially inward to form a stopfo friction member. In Figures 3 and 4 it can be seen that the portionforming the inclined rise is narrower than that portion forming the stopwhich leaves a space designated 39.

The operation of my invention may be briefly described as follows. Thepointer I5 is set to indicate the desired number of lines to be written,and this is accomplished. by rotating the drum II. This rotary movementof the drum II will move the cam surface 29 relative to the detent 26and the friction member 3| being in engagement with the backing plate 6and the tion. The drum II is then moved to the right to the positionshown in Figure 3 where'theldler pinion I! will mesh with the drivingpinion 34.

The detent 26 then drops into the groove 21 tohold the parts in theposition shown in Figure 3.

will hold the parts in the desired posi that many changes and variationsmay be made therein, by those skilled in the art, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention, or exceeding the scopeof the appendedclaims.

y I claim:

+1. In a typewriter having a carriage, a rotatable shaft on thecarriage,

a platen carried by said shaft, and a turning member for the platen, adevice for indicating the number of lines to be written on a pagecomprising a casing having a backing plate secured to the carriage, adrum rotatable around and slidable with respect to said plate, a coverplate secured to the open end of the drum, aring gear mounted on thebacking plate, a driving gear carried by the platen shaft, an idlergearattached to the cover plate and normally out of'mesh with thedriving gear, the idler gear being in mesh with the ring gear, and thesaid idler gearbeing adapted to be moved f into engagement with thedriving gear by sliding the drum over thebacking plate whereby is moved,the gears I6, I1 and 24 will, when the I platen shaft is rotated,transmit rotary movement to the drum II. In addition, the rotarymovement of the drum will wind the coil spring 2|. When the number oflines selected to be written has been written, the cam 29 engages the 4detent 26 and forces it out of the groove 21. The

' helica spring 25 will then move the drum II and its integral parts tothe position shown in Figure 4 thus disengaging the gears 24 and I7.However, the idler gear I1 remains in mesh with rotary movement isimparted to the drum when the platen is rotating.

2. In a typewriter having a carriage, a rotatable shaft on the carriage,a platen carried by said shaft,'and a turning member for the platen, adevice for indicating the number of lines to be written on a pagecomprising a casing having a stationary backing plate secured to thecarriage, a drum rotatable around andslidable with respect to the plate,a cover plate secured to the open end of the drum, a ring gear securedto the a backing plate, a driving .gear carried by the platen shaft; anidler gear joumaled on the cover plate and normally out of mesh with thedriving gear, theidler gear being in mesh with the ring gear,,the.idlerge'ar being adapted to be moved into engagement with the drivinggear by sliding the ring gear I6. The spring 2| will then re verse thedirection of movement of the drum I I through gears I1 and I9 andthe-end 35 of the friction member will ride over the portion 38 of thestop 31 until it reaches the groove 33 at which position it will arrestmovement of the drum II. In other words, when the required number oflines have been written on a given page, my device will automatically'retum the drum to a neutral position. The term neutral position" meansthe position originally selected by the operator, and in this positionthe operator is entirely free to rotate the platen in any directionwithout affecting the selected setting.

, movement is imparted to thedrum when the the'drum over thebacking'plate whereby rotary platen shaft is rotated, detent meansassociated with the drum and backing plate forrmaintaining the idlergear in engagement with the driving gear, means for releasing the detentmeans when the drum has been rotated to a predetermined position withrespect to the backing plate, and spring means bearing against the coverplate to move the idler gear out of engagement with the driving gearupon release of the detent means.

. woonwaan BALDWIN RICH.

